Is “Planning” Permitted Now?

Fandango has asked WHAT OUR PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER ARE. Plans! Plans!!! I thought 2020 had blown the idea of making plans right out of the water!!!

I am just fighting to get myself some kind of routine resembling the one I had before this year. Officially I am back to my normal hours, however I am not yet because I need to help cover the holidays of my colleagues (as they are covering mine when I have had time off recently). Also our students are hoping to go back to university soon, so we will lose them from our team. So (paid) work is eating up too much of my time.

My hope is to increase the amount of unpaid work I do for charities. But at the moment we are limited in some of our activities. So in some ways it may be wise to utilise this time to build up some funds so I can be available when we are allowed to increase our activities.

But in all honesty…I am not looking all that far ahead right now. One day at a time, one week at a time. I am just trying to endure in many respects. But I try to make sure I make time to enjoy life too. Jack is wonderful at helping me to enjoy life. I want to make the most of every moment with him!

My plan for September – to survive. To endure and to enjoy. I might have to pull some warmer clothes out of storage too. We’ll see. No matter what happens…I will keep singing!

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This was my response to the FANDANGO’S DOG DAYS OF AUGUST for today:

https://fivedotoh.com/2020/08/31/fandangos-dog-days-of-august-31/

The Best Day At Work Ever!!!

I noticed that Fandango had asked us to write about our “best job ever” and decided that surely it was time to repost this post from over two years ago!

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Monday morning hey!  I am sure that you bounced out of bed this morning full of eagerness and excitement that a new working week commences today….

Hee hee!  Back to the old grindstone it is.  Alarm clock ringing at some unearthly hour of the morning, leaving the house feeling barely conscious and squeezing our way onto public transport with scores of other commuters who all look as if they need a very strong espresso to inject some life into them.

To cheer both myself and your very good selves up I thought I would tell you about my best Monday morning ever!!!

I had a phone call about fifteen minutes before I was due to leave my little cottage to head for work. “Bring your wellington boots” were the instructions.  So, I guessed I would be working outside.

So I set off in my wellies, curious about what my Monday morning would entail.  The gentleman who owned the estate where I worked met me near the fence to a meadow en route to their large mansion.  He was wearing his wellington boots too.  He pointed up to the meadow where they had a few sheep.

Now the sheep in that field were just pets really.  They didn’t farm sheep for their wool or meat.  They just kept a few as lawn-mowers and a lovely addition to the view from their kitchen window.  We had to put out fresh hey for them, but for the most part not too much work was involved in caring for the sheep.

On this particular Monday morning, we had to perform a task I had never imagined.

First of all, we had to chase the sheep around a field and gather them into an enclosure. I wish there was a drone filming me and the squire running around the field trying to herd the sheep into one corner.  People would pay good money to see comedy like that. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.  We must have made quite a sight!

It took some time to accomplish the first part of our task.  The next stage in our assigned work for the day was even more interesting.  We had to turn each sheep upside down (one at a time of course) so they were on their backs.  Why on earth were we doing this?

So that we could cut their toenails!!! (That’s what he told me we were doing. But we were trimming their hooves in reality) Poor sheep!  Although, it is important for their health apparently.  What a task!

That was indeed one of the most memorable Monday mornings I have had.

I have done various types of work over the years. I have worked in finance, as a receptionist, administrator, legal and medical secretary, gardener, cleaner, sign language interpreter, pharmacy dispensing assistant, laundry, cook, teacher, proofreader (I know I know, you’d never guess by the amount of typos in my blogging posts!), data entry clerk, driver, painter/decorator, I worked for a record company, I have cared for terminally ill patients and those with dementia.  I have cared for ponies, chickens, pets, I have walked dogs – (£15 per hour for each dog in case you were wondering – and that was what the clients offered, I didn’t suggest that rate).

 

The list goes on and on!

I have had some pretty dismal Monday mornings I have to admit.  But on the whole work is rewarding and I just grin and bear the challenging times, knowing it is temporary. There are many occasions when I wish my Monday morning would involve a phone-call with the instructions “Bring you wellington boots…the sheep are due their toe-clipping!”

 

https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/your-daily-word-prompt-enclosure-september-10th-2018/

 

Sangria Señorita

Have you heard? Fandango has invited all WordPress bloggers out for a drink. He is buying! So he has asked what we would like to drink. That’s right, isn’t it Fandango?

I go through fads, or crazes when it comes to my tastes and preferred flavours (I inherited this faddishness from my pappa bear). However, in recent weeks, I have become a sangria girl.

Ever since Jack has been back from Africa, he has been making a small jug of sangria whenever he comes down here. It’s been too hot to drink wine straight. I have been so thirsty. But he does like to see me switch off to work and become a little giggly.

Last year I had Martini and lemonade everywhere I went. Two summers ago, I drank Pimms too often and then became so bored with it, I still feel averse to drinking Pimms. The year before that it was Mojitos all summer – got bored again. But so far, I am not bored with Sangria! Bring it on Jack…or Fandango…or whoever else wants to buy the drinks.

I do go through phases though. I pick a drink and have it all summer. Then I get bored…and I am like…gotta find new tipple! I have spent the past five days with Jack (bliss) and he kept me and my family well supplied with sangria. He is such a keeper.

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This was my response to today’s FANDANGO’S DOG DAYS OF AUGUST:

https://fivedotoh.com/2020/08/27/fandangos-dog-days-of-august-27/

Is Real Love Ever Really Lost?

I am not so sure that real love is ever lost. In my own experience, love grew over time and became intrinsically woven into my very being. This growth was like a limb, one that played a part in everyday of my life.

Sadly at times…it may seem that love is abruptly severed from our life. A broken trust, a betrayal, a bereavement. I am not sure we ever fully recover. Like losing a limb, we are in the position of having to learn to live without that love.

Even when it has been abruptly severed from our life, it is always there. I am not sure we truly recover from the loss.

Having lost in different ways…I lost the life I loved living, I lost the career in which I thrived, for a time I was estranged from the love of my life, for a time I lost my cheer and my sense of trust in others. But it was always there. Slowly the hopeful disposition and the love for those who had hurt me came back. Amazingly, my estranged love came back. I still long to return to the life I love, to the career I love, to the home I love. It’s always there. It never leaves me. Everyday I live my life in a way that shows that is the life I love….not my current situation.

Love, real love is so deeply entwined within your bones, within your deepest organs, it is not easily uprooted. Even when the tree has been severed at its base, it would take something extraordinary to hack the root system away.

Although for some people, it is better to move on because the love we had developed was harmful, and we need to let go of it…in many other cases, that love remains a part of for the rest of our lives. It is always there. We learnt so much about love, about real love, from that experience, that we cannot be without that knowledge. Just as someone has learnt to walk, skip, dance and ride a bike with their limbs…so we have learnt what real love is and what real love does. Now we know that…

…I am not sure that love of that real and true variety is ever lost.

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This was my response on the theme of “LOST LOVE” for

FANDANGO’S DOG DAYS OF AUGUST:

https://fivedotoh.com/2020/08/04/fandangos-dog-days-of-august-4/

Fresh Starts

After a weekend of rushing around, unquestionably packing too much in during my time off work, the ideal way to spend a Monday is with a slow start – I WISH!!! I recommend making sure Mondays are marvellous!

Monday is for fresh starts

Letting go of mistakes

Tearful nights, broken hearts

Breakfast on tea and cake

Make time to smell flowers

Clear your thoughts, heal your mind

And renew your powers

Mark each day being kind

Keep errors in the past

Don’t let them mar today

Storms end, they never last

Darkest clouds roll away

Forget what bothered you

During the week before

Focus on all that’s new

What this week has in store!

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This was my response today’s theme “Monday” from FANDANGO’S DOG DAYS OF AUGUST

https://fivedotoh.com/2020/08/03/fandangos-dog-days-of-august-3/

CARAMEL’S CORNER

I want to give some attention to some areas I think I have been neglecting. One of the areas I have been neglecting is books…

…to correct that, I am introducing CARAMEL’S CORNER!

I buy the books of other WordPress writers, mainly because I want to support them. But it has been brought to my attention that I could go further in supporting them, by reviewing their books. So…I am going to start a READING CORNER on my blog. Just what you never realized you needed….but now you are not going to be able to go without!

I am going to focus on books I have bought and read that were written by WordPress bloggers. Now…you are going to have to cut me some slack to begin with. The truth is…I don’t know where to begin with writing reviews. I have been reading the reviews other bloggers have written and hopefully learning something.

I am a little nervous about the responsibility of reviewing another writer’s book. What if I did not enjoy it? What if it was full of spelling mistakes? I don’t plan to list all the faults I may pick up on. I want to support other writers, not slate them. So my plan is to write sweet Caramel flavoured book reviews. I am not going to score them. I am going to tell you what the book is called, who wrote it and where you can find their WordPress blog…and then I will tell you what I enjoyed about their book…without dropping any spoilers! Spoilers are baaaaaaaad!

Turns out writing interesting book reviews (without sending readers to sleep) is not easy.

Yes…this is why I have never attempted book reviews!!!

Anyway…I have forty paperback books I bought from other WordPress writers and ten Kindle books. I prefer reading paperbacks, because staring at my laptop (I only have Kindle on my laptop) strains my eyes.

I am always looking out for books written by WordPress bloggers, but before everyone starts sending me links to their books, I want to mention that I am a little fussy with books…only in that I don’t want to read about things that are going to give me nightmares. I have been the victim of a serious crime, so anything that is violent, disturbing, or features demons, vampires or horror…I just can’t read that kind of material. So, on occasion I have chosen not to buy a WordPress blogger’s book because I know I cannot read it.

I do love reading, chick-lit, poetry, children’s and young adult books, non-violent crime-solving, action and suspense so long as there is no gory violence, fiction and non-fiction that promotes more awareness in all aspects of mental health, stories about life and love and learning about oneself, growing as a person, becoming stronger.

I even bought a WordPress bloggers book (in complete naivety) which turned out to be quite an education in…”human biology”…they obviously missed that chapter in science lessons at my high school.

Most of my reading has been the classics, which I have read and re-read because I loved them so much the first time round. But wanting to be supportive to other bloggers, I have bought a lot of new books…and read them…and now I am going to review them – ta da!!!

Reviews a la Caramel!

Anyway…I am waffling now…my point is CARAMEL’S CORNER posts will be making an appearance on my site, and within each one I will be sharing the fabulous books written by other WordPress writers…and I shall be attempting to review them without offending anyone!!!